A study of the Representations of Otherness in Iranian Children's and Young adult's Literature

This study aims to deductively identify and track down different types of otherness and their attributes as represented in Iranian children's and young adult's literature. To do so, a sample of twenty seven stories was firstly studied through a deductive qualitative content analysis so as to decide what kinds of otherness exist in Iranian children's and young adult's literature. Secondly, the text of each story was analyzed using a reflective content analysis method, with a descriptive-interpretative approach in order to show how those characters identified as other are represented in the stories. The results reveal that those characters regarded as other show a low profile in Iranian children's and young adult's literature and that the voice of others is not loud enough. Along with the limited presence, the actions of other characters are also limited due to the fact that they belong to marginalized groups, with a low or no degree of power. Although self/other relationship in most of stories is essentially based on conflict, there are some representations of self/other relationship that imply interaction, acceptance, empathy and friendship.